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The International Refugee Assistance Project (“IRAP”) provides free legal assistance to refugees and displaced persons. IRAP is not part of the US government or IOM. This guide provides general information and is not intended to be legal advice for individual applicants.
The Central American Minors (CAM) Refugee & Parole Program
In January 2025, President Trump issued an order indefinitely pausing the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) and, separately, group-based parole programs and processing. These executive actions suspended both the refugee and parole components of the CAM Program. This means all new and pending applications, interviews, decisions, and travel were suspended. The only exception are CAM parole cases covered by the S.A. settlement.
In addition, the government paused some funding to organizations in the United States that provided assistance and services to people who entered through the CAM Program.
IRAP is suing the U.S. government over this general refugee resettlement pause. You can find the latest updates for how this lawsuit is affecting cases here. Others have sued over the group-based parole pause. You can find more information here.
CAM Re-Parole
The Trump administration paused USCIS processing of all applications for parole and re-parole, including CAM. There is an ongoing case fighting this policy. Because of a court order in this case, as of May 28, 2025, an application for CAM re-parole should be processed. This is initial, emergency relief while the case proceeds and it might change in the future. During the first Trump administration, re-parole applications were often issued for 90 days to depart. This is a possible outcome of re-parole applications that are adjudicated at this time.
CAM Hotline
The CAM Hotline operated by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) is indefinitely out of service as of February 12, 2025. If you contacted the CAM Hotline and did not receive a callback before this date, unfortunately, no one will return your call.
CAM Program History
The Central American Minors (CAM) program is a legal pathway through which children and other family members facing persecution or danger in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras can reunite with parents who are lawfully present in the United States.
When President Trump ended a part of the CAM program in August 2017, IRAP sued and won an agreement that the U.S. government would re-open applications that were at final stages of processing (“court settlement”). In March 2021, President Biden announced the re-opening of the CAM program. Click here for information about the lawsuit. Government reports on settlement processing are under “court documents.”